Premier League January window shopping

As the January transfer window is flung open and the Premier League rumour mill goes into overdrive, The Sport Review takes a look at some of the latest transfer stories circulating around England’s top flight.

It seems fitting to being with the league leaders and although they have been producing stuttering performances since their demolition of Arsenal in November, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has fired a sharp “back off” warning at Jose Mourinho after the Inter Milan boss revealed he wants to take charge of an English club next season. It is sure to make an enticing encounter all the more appealing when the two sides meet in the last 16 of the Champions League in February.

From the top of the league to rock bottom and Portsmouth. The south coast club have reportedly invited Manchester City to make a bid for defender Younes Kaboul as Pompey attempt to balance the books. Avram Grant’s is also said to have been told that he must sell at least £6m worth of players to avoid the club being declared bankrupt.

Phil Brown’s struggling Hull City are trying to secure the signature of Manchester City striker Benjani on loan until the end of the season. The Tigers currently sit second-bottom of the league despite having come back from 2-0 down to earn a point at Bolton on Tuesday.

Top-four rivals Aston Villa and Liverpool are set to battle it out for more than just a European places as the two sides look to secure the services of West Ham midfielder Scott Parker who is rumoured to be available for around £8m. At Stoke City, Tony Pulis is also said to be interested in Parker’s services but would most likely lose out should Villa or Liverpool declare their interest.

Arsene Wenger was furious at the manner in which Robin van Persie was effectively ruled out for the rest of the season when the Dutchman damaged ankle ligaments while playing for Holland in a meaningless friendly against Italy. Nevertheless, the Arsenal boss is likely to look to bring in a striker in order to help the Gunners mount a serious title challenge in the new year. Bordeaux’s Marouane Chamakh is the Frenchman’s most likely target.

Liverpool have also been linked with an attacking player to partner the prolific Fernando Torres, with Real Madrid’s Ruud van Nistelrooy being linked with the Merseyside club on a six-month loan move.

At Old Trafford Sir Alex Ferguson may find himself in a fight to hold onto defender Nemanja Vidic who has been linked to a summer move away from Manchester United with Real Madrid the most likely destination for the Serbian centre half.

Elsewhere Alex McLeish could try to bring in Blackburn striker Benni McCarthy as the Scot looks to continue Birmingham City’s impressive run of form which has seen them shoot up the table and into eighth place.

Tottenham have once again been linked with a swoop for Portsmouth goalkeeper David James as the England international looks to recover from injury and get a run of games under his belt in order to stake his claim to be Fabio Capello’s first choice in South Africa.

And finally, Wigan boss Roberto Martinez has been linked with a swoop for Ivory Coast defender Steve Gohouri from Borussia Monchengladbach as the Spaniard looks to bolster his side’s rearguard.

* Fabregas expected to miss five games
* Blues have personality, says Ancelotti
* Is the title race over, or has it only just begun?

#
Fabregas expected to miss five games
Posted: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:48:22 +0000

Cesc Fabregas play for England?
Cesc Fabregas is expected to be ruled out of Arsenal’s next five matches, starting with the Gunners’ clash with Portsmouth at Fratton Park this evening.

A Glimpse at 1st Place!

May not last long... but there it is... It was expensive in terms of sleep.

Mouth Closed has more pairs of boots on the pitch today (9-8) and they are bigger names than mine.

But home team advantage counts big in football, and Vigilance has that.

We'll play two today, and two tomorrow. And that will be it for 2009.

Week 18: 1st Place, But I Have to Share It!

Week 18 was a topsy-turvy week with lots of mid-week games. I was down two, up two and ended up tied. It could have been worse. It could have been way better. I'm a long way from solving PTG. As a matter of fact, I'm losing my confidence in being able to best Mouth Closed. It would so good to be able to log a single week in uncontested 1st place. It may not happen.

I'm guess there were twice as many English Premier League games as there were in previous weeks. It was hard to keep up. Some transfers had to go on 3-day waivers. I still haven't learned how to tell which ones except by trial and error. I did learn that all of the day's game rosters were locked within two minutes of the start of the first game of the day. That was expensive: That meant four of my best players for Manchester United were left on the bench. Well, look at it this way: the wise man maketh each mistake once.

OTOH, in ESPN, Class Warfare is barely trading water!

Class Warfare Got Hammered - Vigilance Not So Much!

Upsets kill me in the ESPN division. I am definitely routed for 2nd Division for the rest of the season. I early defeated myself as I went through the school of hard knocks on bad initial trades which required even more transactions to correct. And, I still need to pick up another midfielder.










I also was humbled in the PTG division. Upsets will do that for you. I picked up 1/2 a point on the leader, while it looked like Newt FC picked up on the Defense chart because of two "clean sweeps", and Central Coast got off the floor.

The coming week is going to be rocky. I expect some disappointments with games in the middle of the week. There's not going to be enough lead time for my platooning.

I have already lost the services of Manchester's current goalie, exactly when I needed him the most.

However, I don't think Mouth Closed can acquire him before I get him back. My 2nd big specific mistake. Educational experiences are expensive.

PTG League: Week 15

I'm very pleased with these results. Saturday's games look like they were going to sink me what with those upsets, missed penalty kicks and other snafus. But using reserves on Sunday put me through, obviously.

Other managers are not concentrating on the need to replace injured players. I suppose their attitude is just to give the old man a chance. Well, I'm always one to see an opening, and I'll win. Even if it takes looking ugly, I'll win.

I have closed every category deficit except "clean sheets" which are shut-outs (not plotted).

A few injuries next week, but basically it's cruise control with not many roster changes.

ESPN League -15th Week

Class Warfare ain't going to happen. That what I see. I have less than half of the transfers left what my opposition teams have. Just playing to stay afloat some where in the middle of the league.

This was a slow week for everyone: lots of missed penalty shots and own-goals will do that for you.

RBFC is still #1 in the world, and Newt United is #1 in his company's league which has 15-20 teams. So, I'm not exactly embarrassing myself. Not yet, anyways....

PTG League: Week 14

I maybe exaggerating my loss of
Yossi Benayoun to Mouth Open. But it might partially explain my lack of offensive punch.

Making up ground on M.O., but he's aware I'm coming, so it's going to get tougher.

Also, I made the mistake of tipping off Arroyo: he's very much back in the game.

ESPN League -14th Week

Can't gain much ground with my transfers spent.

Good thing my left wing, Rooney, got that hat trick. That certainly kept me on pace.

RBFC is still in 1st in the world. He's still "King of the World" but ice bergs are getting closer to his bow. He's down to a margin of 30 points, I think.

Vigilance Rises in the 13th Week!

Times On Line League
With free, unlimited trading, why not churn your rosters? Sentimentality, emotional ties to individual players be damned. If it works, it works. Whatever it takes.

Class Warfare?

13th Week in the ESPN League?
Not so much!!!
Down to nine more trades for the remainder of the season? I'm just holding on....

But the real news is RBFC! He's numero uno out of 64,000 players, world-wide! 60 points ahead of whoever is in 2nd place!

And I had dinner with him yesterday! Ouch!!

Referee Problem?

PTG Week 12

This league is a true Rotisserie league: a player is the exclusive property of one team. Trading is unlimited.

The only problem is the statistics which are calculated on a curve. In otherwords, the 1st place team in this five-team league will never place over 50 points.

I may have to supplement additional charts in order to derive a meaningful critique of my miserable performance.

It appears my activist tactics are having a beneficial effect on my standings!

ESPN Week 12

Unofficial Results:

Better performance. I'm catching up with the learning curve, if not with the leaders! But it was accomplished only with costly trading necessary to cover injuries and suspensions. Hope this current roster can me carry forward a few weeks or I will be back again in the cellar for keeps. Don't expect major changes until January when the schedule catches up with the pace of my trades. For the time being, I have to keep my powder dry.

I'm very proud of RBFC whose scoring has landed him in the championship levels in two other, huge leagues. Hope he can maintain his edge and keep his day job at the same time!


There's a statistical blip that occurred, causing everyone's down turn. I don't have enough time to track it down.